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And now what did you do TODAY?


morphsci

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I have been extremely patient with this guy, Steve, and have sucked it up when various other deadlines came and went unmet. The original completion date was mid-august but the scope changed -- in part due to their failures that caused extensive water damage -- and I expected slippage. However, the guy insisted they could finish by end of august then insisted that the week after Labor Day would be doable and neither were even remotely possible in reality. At that point I told them that we needed to be in the house by September 30 for this weekend concert. They had three weeks to finish what they said should already be done.

They failed miserably. Early this week, when the failure was apparent, I told them we could camp out with unfinished work but we had to have power, water, heat and hot water (now tied together because of new radiant/radiator heat), the kitchen (not part of the work except for water damage issues) and doors on the bathroom. All of that was promised but they didn't have the plumber come until the day before we were to move in, so in less than two days he had to install the bathroom faucet and toilet, install and pipe the entire new boiler and tie it into the hot water and heating system, install all of the thermostats and get the system heated up for 6pm the next day. Not only did he (yes, mostly just one guy) not finish, but as I said nobody discovered that the gas line was capped and inaccessible. We have no heat, hot water, gas for the stove, no bathroom door, and not one single element of the job actually complete.

Writing that out makes it even seem worse and my anger is up again, but sheesh, I have lowered expectations repeatedly and given these guys every opportunity to succeed and still we get screwed. Their work seems top notch but this project isn't big enough to justify this much failure. :palm:

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I have been extremely patient with this guy, Steve, and have sucked it up when various other deadlines came and went unmet. The original completion date was mid-august but the scope changed -- in part due to their failures that caused extensive water damage -- and I expected slippage. However, the guy insisted they could finish by end of august then insisted that the week after Labor Day would be doable and neither were even remotely possible in reality. At that point I told them that we needed to be in the house by September 30 for this weekend concert. They had three weeks to finish what they said should already be done.

They failed miserably. Early this week, when the failure was apparent, I told them we could camp out with unfinished work but we had to have power, water, heat and hot water (now tied together because of new radiant/radiator heat), the kitchen (not part of the work except for water damage issues) and doors on the bathroom. All of that was promised but they didn't have the plumber come until the day before we were to move in, so in less than two days he had to install the bathroom faucet and toilet, install and pipe the entire new boiler and tie it into the hot water and heating system, install all of the thermostats and get the system heated up for 6pm the next day. Not only did he (yes, mostly just one guy) not finish, but as I said nobody discovered that the gas line was capped and inaccessible. We have no heat, hot water, gas for the stove, no bathroom door, and not one single element of the job actually complete.

Writing that out makes it even seem worse and my anger is up again, but sheesh, I have lowered expectations repeatedly and given these guys every opportunity to succeed and still we get screwed. Their work seems top notch but this project isn't big enough to justify this much failure. facepalm.png

OK, well I'm glad to hear that at least the work that has been accomplished seems to be to a high standard. Once all is finished that will be the most important thing for your piece of mind. It does sound like you have a contractor that's promising the moon as far as time schedule, and that's a common tactic (one which I do not subscribe to). Like I said before, I've lost bids because of my honesty of time schedules. But it works for me, as most of my jobs stay on track. Remodeling is trickier than new construction, because you never know what you may uncover regarding previous work, so I always address those possibilities too.

If your contractor is doing good quality work, then chances are he wants to get finished too. As time is money. He's probably dealing with sub issues and maybe just bad at organization and time management. As frustrating as that can be, it's at least better than poor workmanship, or worse yet work that they're quite aware is sub-standard. In other words it sounds as though he at least wants to do a good job.

I imagine that you have a payment schedule, where payments are in 3 or 4 large lumps, dependent on completion of phases? I have adopted the practice of not excepting final payment until the homeowner lives with the space for a month (much to my partners dismay), but it gives them time to relax and gain assurance that everything works as planned. Of coarse that's on top of a warranty. It also establishes a trust between us, and is just good for business, as about 35-40% of my business is repeat business. And a hell of a lot of my business is from referrals of past clients.

I'd strongly recommend that you talk about doing the same, once work has been completed. I'd also start keeping a punch list right away. Sometimes things can slip your mind. And don't hesitate to call the city inspector yourself, if you feel something may not have been done to code.

Again, it seems that most of your issues are schedule related, and I feel your pain, really!

If you have any concerns that you want to get advice on, don't hesitate to call Al.

And do not pay ahead of scheduled plan! But I know you're smarter than that!

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Oh, I forgot to mention that one job I'm just wrapping up is a garage. It seems my neighbor went with a bid much lower than mine. The contractor was arrested in the middle of the job for fraudulent business practices, among other things. So he calls me to finish this guys handy work. Turns out nothing was done to code (no permit had ever been sought). No threaded rod embedded in the slab to hold down the bottom plates, no hurricane clips to secure the incorrectly stick framed rafters. No Simpson fastening systems of any kind, just nails, and smooth, brights at that. Ringshank galvies are minimum requirement for nails on this type of job. Not one stud was plumb, not one piece of exterior sheeting was plumb, or nailed to code.

So the homeowner was less than thrilled when after $35,000 into said project the garage had to be dismantled and completely rebuilt. I did manage to salvage a lot of the lumber, since it was so poorly fastened together.

During demolition, one of my guys dropped his hammer. The hammer broke right through the slab. It seems that said contractor decided to save himself a bunch of money by filling the forms with sand (after the homeowner left for work) and poring 1/2" - 3/8" of concrete on top.

I think he now understands that the lowest bid might not actually be the best way to go. ;)

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